The present invention relates to beverage container holders for vehicles.
As a matter of convenience, vehicles are commonly equipped with beverage container holders within which a cup or a glass or the like may be positioned to reduce the risk of the container overturning as the vehicle is driven.
One such prior art beverage container holder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,899 to Lorence et al. The Lorence device is understood to be actuated by actuating a push-to-release catch. Upon actuation, a pair of cup holders in Lorence move outwardly in a controlled manner from a housing. The cup holders overlap one another within the housing and may be maintained in the overlapping position. Alternatively, a release mechanism may be activated in Lorence to permit one cup holder to pivot about a vertical axis to a position away from the other cup holder, which does not pivot, so that both cup holders may support different containers. These cup holders are provided with a notch to accommodate a handle of a coffee cup and also include resilient projecting elements for engaging the sides of a beverage container positioned therein. Each of these cup holders has a bottom which limits the depth to which a cup may be inserted into the cup holder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,146 to Spykerman is understood to disclose a pair of nested beverage container holders which, when slid axially out from the console or the like, may then be operated by relative pivoting of one of the container holders away from the other, to provide spaces for receiving two beverage containers. Like the Lorence et al. device, the Spykerman container holders have a floor that would limit the depth of insertion of a large beverage containing cup.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,571 to Lorence et al. is understood to disclose a pair of side-by-side beverage container holders which both slide out from and pivot relative to a housing which contains these holders when not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,767 to Miller et al., is understood to disclose a pair of nested beverage container holders which slide axially outwardly from a console or the like when in use. That is, a first beverage container holder is slidably received within a second beverage container holder with the two nested beverage container holders being slidably received in the arm rest.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,054 to Schiff is understood to disclose an extendable tray for a vehicle with first and second beverage container holders which each pivot about a separate respective vertical axis into position for use when the carrier is slid from a stored position to use position.
Although a number of prior art beverage container holders exist for vehicles, a need exists for an improved beverage container holding apparatus.